The Twin Blue Orbs - The Mortal Instruments Fan Fiction
by winonawinter1212
Summary: Aria Fairchild, an adopted teenage shadowhunter found herself torn in between two brothers. But before she could understand her own feeling, the great battle in Idris ensued, threatening the lives of people she loved. Can love still survive after it was consumed by the fire that had burned the City of Glass? (The story will be parallel with TMI: City of Glass).
1. Prologue

Prologue

"I told you to stab its jaw while it was on top of you! What were you waiting for? Didn't you hear me yelling?" Aria's disgruntled voice echoed around the Institute's grand foyer as she stomped her way up the curvy stairs. "If it were Jace, he would have stabbed the monster right then and there in a heartbeat."

Beside her, Jason rolled his eyes. "Can't you stop comparing me to Jace? You have never even_ met_ the guy," he stopped for a moment to catch his breath and Aria strode past him without stopping, her brown hair bobbed in rhythm with her sure steps. He grumbled under his breath and quickened his pace up the stairs to precede Aria. "The demon's dead already. Get over it, will you?"

Aria stopped abruptly and threw a sharp glance toward Jason, making him stumbled. She was one step above him, but she was still shorter than him. Her eyes were the same brown color as the strands of hair that escaped her ponytail, which was now pasted on the sides of her oval face. They were both exhausted from their previous fight against the Forsaken, but she looked even more so than him because of the pink shades on her cheek. "Get over it?" She snapped at him, her voice high, "Really? I bought this jacket just yesterday and now it's full of blood and ichor because you just have to stab the demon while it was on top of me. And now you expect me to _get over it_?"

Jason stayed quiet, as if expecting Aria to say something more. He scratched his hair and narrowed his left eye when she did not say anything. "I'll buy you a new one?"

Aria sighed heavily and continued her way up the stairs. Her small lip curved down to a pout, but the corner of his right lip slightly curved upwards. The dim witchlights around the beige hallway quivered as if they were laughing silently at the silly arguments that were presented in front of them. Sometimes it was funny to see Jason's confused face, and sometimes it was also cruel for her to pretend that she was still mad at him when all she really wanted to do was to laugh at his face and told him how ridiculously comical he looked. But they have been through this kind of fight a thousand times already that it was almost a habit for Aria to prolong her pretend-angriness just to make him kept scratching his head.

"Aria," Jason groaned, his gaze followed Aria's back. "Look. I'm sorry! I was nervous, I… didn't except it to lick me like that."

Aria stopped again and whirled around to stare at Jason. She gave him a quizzical look. "What?"

"It's just that it looks like a dog, you know. With… big eyes and… ragged skin and… bloody ears." Jason shrugged, taking two steps at a time to level Aria. He continued in a tone of disbelief when she did not change her expression, "Didn't you even see it _licking_ me?"

Aria folded her hands, trying to gauge Jason's countenance. His face was always like that, she thought. Like a page that was taken from an open book, as if he had nothing to hide from her. He stared at her with his wide blue eyes that glimmered from the witchlight. The blue in his eyes was different from Ben's, his fraternal twin brother. While Ben's eyes were of darker aquamarine blue, Jason's were more startling - an azure blue. His dampened blond hair was darkened by the dimness of the room, a trickle of sweat dripping from his sideburns to the edge of his jaw. That was when Aria saw the tip of a reddened scratch on his collarbone, which body was blanketed by his black shirt. "You're hurt," she said in a lower tone.

"No, it didn't do me any harm. It just kind of licked me."

"No. Jason. I mean you _are_ hurt. There, on your upper chest," she pointed at the subtle scratch that stained his otherwise tan skin and sighed. "Have you _iratzed_?"

Jason followed Aria's gaze and cringed. He slowly pulled down the collar of his shirt and nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm. That's weird. So maybe it did not lick me after all, though I'm pretty sure it did. Maybe its tongue was thorny?"

Aria put one hand on her temple and shook her head lightly. "Not funny, Jason. You should consider spending more of your time on sword training rather than dating with Dickens."

"What's wrong with Dickens?" Jason put an offended look, "The guy's a genius!"

"By the Angel, can't you be a little more Ben-like?" Aria couldn't help but mentioned Jason's brother. Ever since she arrived at the Institute, she had always wondered why the two of them was so different and so distant, as if they came from two different universes and just so happened to be placed in the same womb. "How can one twin be a knight in shining armor while the other is a… a bibliophile?"

"Bibliophile?" Jason raised his eyebrows, "That's actually a great term to describe me. Although, I wouldn't exactly call Ben a knight in shining armor. He tends to wear blue, you know. Or black. Not the shining types of clothes. That's not his taste."

Aria gritted her teeth and was about to retort to Jason's flippant response when the large wooden door on top of the stairs creaked. An oblong face with blue eyes that were a shade darker than Jason's appeared on the edge of the door. Ben. Aria whispered his name automatically before her mind could even begin to prevent the words from slipping out of her tongue.

Ben wore a casual blue long-sleeved T-shirt paired with a dark blue jeans. His hair was as black as starless night, outlined by the dimming foyer witchlight. Unlike Jason's lean figure, Ben was well-built, with carved muscles that showed their rough traces on the surface of his arms. His chin was also more prominent with a strong and defined jawline that looked as if it could chisel granite. The only other thing aside from the color of their eyes that could signify their twin status was their aqualine noses that looked slightly curved on the tip. Aria stared at the contrasting shadows that were dancing on Ben's face for a tad too long that she didn't realize his change of expression upon seizing the sight of Aria's clothes. "What happened? Are you okay?" Ben said with his husky voice.

Aria waltzed lightly up the steps, almost unconsciously, as if Ben was pulling her closer to him by some unseen force. Her voice was suddenly calm and honeyed. "It's nothing. They're not my blood. Jason and I met a Forsaken on our way here, but we already killed it. Now I just need to wash my jacket."

Ben raised one eyebrow, "_One_ Forsaken? It looks like you had just fought dozens of them."

Aria tipped her chin toward Jason as she struggled to mantle the smirk on her face upon smelling Ben's scent of oakwood and soap. "Ask your brother. He was the one who killed it."

It took a few seconds for Ben to process Aria's words before he stretched a smile of enlightenment. "I see. That makes sense."

Jason, still standing on the middle of the staircase, held both of his hands up and shrugged, "What? It's not that bad. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ben chortled, his figure quivered slightly. Aria broke free of her defenses and let out her previously held smirk; the kind of smirk a child would let out upon seeing a house made of candies. Realizing how stupid she must have looked, Aria blushed automatically and silently cursed herself for being such a drama queen. She quickly recovered and decided to change the subject, ignoring Jason's remark. "By the way, Ben, were you just looking for us?"

Ben regained his composure and turned his head to face Aria. He had the same height as Jason's, but his broad shoulders lent him a more mature aura. He moistened his lip briskly and made a gesture for Aria to follow him inside. "As a matter of fact, yes, I was. Mom and Dad summoned us. They said that Aunt Elodie had just sent an important message regarding Valentine and the Clave. I suspect it has something to do with the countless meetings that are held in Idris. I don't see why they need to contact the Seattle Institute, though."

"Isn't your cousin Sebastian in Idris too right now?" Aria followed Ben as he walked his way into the heart of the Institute. Her voice slowly faded away from the foyer, her worries over her stained jacket gone.

Jason watched Aria's shadow withering on the bottom edge of the wall. Something was pressing at his chest as he watched her shadow shrinking like it was suctioned by the opened door. He remained motionless until it was completely gone, leaving a subtle echo of velvety voice on its departure. Then he bowed his head down and smiled bitterly, as if proclaiming defeat. "And she's gone," his croaked voice was barely a whisper. "Just like always. Lucky Ben."


	2. Chapter 1

1.

The sensor in Jason's right hand shuddered like a vibrating cellphone. He had known about the demon's presence for a while now, since the sensor always vibrated lightly every time he and Aria went pass this abandoned lodge which was located five blocks away from the Institute. They had just went pass here three hours ago, yet now he found himself coming back to this very spot with a particularly bold intention. He had never cared much of his so-called Nephilim responsibilities, but it seemed like his blood had never boiled this intense ever before. He knew he should not do what he was going to do because of his rare condition; the condition that he was born with, which had distanced him from the world of shadowhunting. But no, he did not want to think about it. Somehow brushing over the fact was like sprinkling salt on an old wound, making it fresh and new again, as if time had never quite masked its traces.

He walked slowly and steadily toward the slanted door with broken hinges. The small lodge looked as if it was unoccupied for at least a hundred years, as there were no traces of people ever living there. The metal roof was rusty and full of moss, the grey painting of its outside wall was peeling almost randomly. He could feel a lump building in the back of his throat as he touched the handle of the door, cold metal spreading over his skin through his palm. He hesitated for a second, feeling the disturbing itch on the back of his heel. Unlike Ben, he had never been one to be eager to face death before. He had always been the uncaring brother - the book-lover, not the demon-fighter. Yet he felt that desire raised again, that eagerness every shadowhunter was born to have in the face of danger, when he saw Aria's gaping expression earlier that night.

He and Aria, and sometimes Ben, had always spent their time in the training room before dinner. Aside from the fact that he could not take his eyes from her when Ben was not around, there was usually nothing special about their training sessions: Jason would tease her and she would tease him back and they would have an equal skill score by the end of the day. Nothing special. But tonight was slightly different. The memory was still clear in his mind; the smell of sweat and metal, Aria's playful smile when he said to her that he would hit the bullseye in one throw, the rush of adrenaline that washed over his head to the tip of his toes, the feeling of his damp hand gripping the hilt of the familiar knife, and the twang sound of the vibrating knife that echoed around the steel wall as it hit the archery target's inmost ring. So far, Ben was the only one who could manage to throw a knife or shoot an arrow to the center of the bullseye. People said it was a matter of gift and Jason had long accepted the fact that he was just not really gifted on the area of agility or physical strength. So Jason hitting the target was most probably because luck had decided to favor him once in a while when a pretty girl had just happened to be watching him showing off. But since the pretty girl in this particular scenario was Aria, and since the gaping expression she gave him was so hilarious, it made Jason think of the things that could possibly happen if he could do slightly more than just hitting a target's bullseye - especially after she just ran off to Ben when he showed up one second later and forget about everything, like she usually did. And that was not right for Jason; Ben was not the only one worth a second glance.

Jason scoffed as he clicked the door open, trying to erase the bitter memory from his mind. Idris was in trouble, he thought. His parents had told him early on when he, Ben and Aria was in the family room. They said that the Clave would need the Seattle Institute's help soon and that the children were expected to be ready for any circumstances that might happen in the near future. Jason kept convincing himself that his current conquest was part of his supposed training and not a part of some silly teenager coming-of-age drama to mend a broken heart. That was just too silly. Besides, Ben would have probably had done this a thousand times already, Jason would at least have half of his brother's skill in fighting, right? Of course, Jason was more liable to danger due to his condition, but he was still a shadowhunter. Danger was supposed to be his middle name.

The house was filled with silent and for a moment all he could hear was the sound of whooshing wind blowing up the almost-transparent curtains that covered a small square window on the left side of the room. There were no interior doors aside from the entrance door and the room was mostly deserted with a small wooden crib in the middle of it that creaked as the wind gently tugged it back and forth, and a rather large sofa near the window, with scratches all over its cushion. The room was dark and dank, as if restless ghosts were occupying it. It smelled rotten and damp. The only light in this room came from the full moon that shone shyly through the thin-clothed curtain. It was only after the wind had settled and the curtain had fallen ever so graciously did Jason saw a hunched shape on the back of the sofa.

The sensor's vibration had reached the point where Jason had to thrust it down his jeans' backpocket to muffle its sound. The moonlight started to reveal the surface of the hunched figure; green skin, almost translucent, revealing a yellowing backbone under it – bones that had already passed the point of rotting, bones that were too old to exist. He nervously pressed the wrong button on the sensor several times before he pressed the right one, making it still again. But the demon had already noticed his nervousness and had moved toward him – slithered toward him, to be exact. It looked like a giant cobra, minus the vibrating tongue, but with a bone structure resembling a deformed human. From the many Nephilim books Jason had read, he knew immediately that he was facing a _Shax_ demon, the type of demon that was more vicious than the Raveners, but still weaker than any Greater Demons. This was the first time Jason had ever faced a demon greater than the Raveners alone. Its eyes were atrocious yellow, almost green, like the greenish color Jason had always imagined Dante's _Inferno_'s fire would look like. There were no pupils, yet it seemed to know where Jason was. It opened its protruded mouth and revealed jagged fangs that were neatly stacked on its upper and lower lip line, each slipped in between the other, moving almost robotically as skank slobbers dangling all around them.

Before long, it was already a few feet away from Jason and snarled, a gust of hot and stinking breath stroke Jason's face, waking him up from his tangled thoughts, almost one second too late before he rolled sideways to avoid the demon's snout. He quickly scrambled to his feet and grabbed a seraph blade he had hid behind his boots and whispered, "_Ithuriel_." The dagger blazed, a bluish halo outlining its curve. But before Jason could use it properly, the demon whirled all too suddenly, turning its body around, and its barbed tail hit Jason's feet in one swing, making him fell on his back, the shining dagger clattered on his side. The tail did not stop there, however, for it swung back again and struck Jason's fallen body, lifted it up a little, just enough to hurl him against the far right wall.

A quick cracking sound followed his collision before he slid to the floor. Jason groaned loudly and grabbed his right arm, realizing he just broke it. His head thumped heavily but he had to gather his strength to stand in order to avoid the demon's next attack. This would be so much easier if someone else was around, at least the demon's focus would be divided. But there was no use in cursing his situation, for he was the one who put himself there in the first place. Such stupid heroic notion, he thought. He groped the side of his other boots, trying to find his second seraph blade, but the demon had already lunged himself at him with a snarl. Jason stepped sideways and staggered; it was hard to keep his balance with pain stabbing all over one of his arms. He tried to reach for his boots again but the demon had already prepared for his next attack. Jason knew that it would try to keep him down before it would swirl again and stabbed him with its barbed tail. He looked around the room wildly, searching for his already blazing seraph blade. When his gaze finally caught the blade lying on the ground, he was almost slid himself to grab it when the demon's barbed tail once again jabbed the floor near the blade, blocking his way to it. With not many options left, Jason thrust his hand to his back pocket to reach for his sensor and ran to the other side of the room to face the demon and stroke the sensor to the demon's temple, just near its left eye. But he left his guard down when he did so, not realizing that his distance with the demon was too close, giving its fangs a chance to scratch his already broken right arm. The demon shrieked at the same time that Jason cried hoarsely. He fell, his body slouched on the floor with his left arm bearing his weight as he watched the _Shax _demon shuddered intensely; its eyes jutted outward while its body slowly folded within itself, bones crackled over bones into a dot that grew tinier and vanished to nothingness within a minute.

Jason coughed heavily, blood had smeared his clothes. He threw his glance on his right arm and groaned, he could see the purple poison from the demon's last minute scratches coursing through his veins, flowing toward his lungs. It was not much, but for Jason, it was bad enough. He cursed. Yeah, of course a _Shax_ demon was poisonous. Why couldn't he think of that before he approached it hastily as if it was a tame pet he wanted to pat? He was not much of an artist and he knew he could not possibly _iratzed_ himself with his left hand without risking drawing the wrong runes. He cursed in frustration. If only he could get rid of his 'weakness', he would not have find himself in this difficult situation. Other shadowhunter's blood system would have been immune to a tiny jab of poison from any demons other than that of Greater Demons'.

Jason exhaled loudly and pushed the weight of his body with his left hand, staggered as he managed to stand. He walked limply and picked the seraph blade near the door. A one-on-one fight without using a seraph blade? Who would have guessed? Jason scoffed sarcastically and continued his way out the door. The institute was just five blocks away, he predicted it would take ten to fifteen minutes' walk with his current condition. He sneered to himself as he gathered his remaining strength to continue walking. It was stupid of him for not bringing his cellphone in the first place, and for a reason not nobler than pride. From the corner of his blurry vision, he could see that the invisibility rune on his upper chest had almost disappeared. Sooner or later people would notice his presence and too much attention was never good for a shadowhunter.

His head throbbed heavily with every step he took. The sky was cloudless and starless, as if a dome of darkness was enclosing around the city lights that blended together with its darker background. The glow they created was so stunning that it trembled and blurred in Jason's eyes. He realized that the poison was spreading faster than he had anticipated it would. He shook his head several times, willing himself to keep walking – running, if possible, toward the soaring twin skyscrapers that was the Institute. His legs felt heavy and pain burned on his left arm to his chest, even though he barely able to feel his arm moving. People had started to throw their glances at him. Luckily his dark clothes masked the smear of blood that dampened his front and back. He tried to walk as normal as possible, trying to trick people into thinking that he was just some drunk boy who was in need of more alcohol or drugs. He just hoped there were no police cars patrolling the area.

Wisps of air escaped his parted lip. The air was cold but sweat bathed his body that was burning too hot. The gate of the Institute was now several steps away from him, shining brightly golden. To mundanes, the gate would have looked like a greyish giant door of an unoccupied, possibly haunted, house. But to shadowhunters, it was the familiar gate that existed in front of every Institute around the world, with unique carvings of runes, angels and lions on its façade. Jason's heart skipped a beat of relief as he reached the strong handle of the door. The Seattle Institute's gate was unique since it only needed a simple shadowhunter touch on its handle for it to click open.

He slipped his body through the opening of the gate. A little bit more, he thought to himself, he just needed to walk passed the small garden to the entrance door that would lead him to the Institute's main foyer. But pain shot down his chest, making him fell to the cold ground. The sharp grasses grimed his leg, but he barely felt them. Everything around him spiraled around the throbbing pain that had now spread from his arm to his chest to his head. He dragged his feet forcefully with a groan, crawling, focusing his attention on the wooden double door that was standing ten feet away from him. Just a little bit more, he thought to himself again, just a little knock. He just hoped that someone would hear his weak knocks. But darkness had started to close in around his periphery of vision, threatening to take away his consciousness. No matter how hard Jason tried to shake his head, it would not go away. "By the Angel, this is just too silly," he whispered throatily to himself. And with that, his last ounce of energy ran out. His head fell to his side, everything was spinning. He could barely hear the door creaked open, followed by a high-pitched shriek that sounded so far away. The last thing that crossed his mind before he succumbed into the realm of oblivion was something like 'Finally. It took long enough.' And then everything went blank.


	3. Chapter 2

Aria sat quietly around the rectangular dining table. Like the foyer, the dining room was also dim and simple in its decoration, with a grand fireplace on one side, a grandfather clock on the other side, and beige flowery wallpaper enveloping them. Marlena and Dimitri Verlac, her adoptive parents, were chatting animatedly across from her. They had finished their dinner, but it was almost a family tradition for them to stay at least one hour after. The sound of the crackling fireplace filled the atmosphere with a sense of warmth, but the grim expression on Marlena and Dimitri's face implied the opposite. She did not really understand what they were talking about aside from some familiar sentences that she had heard over and over again these last few days, like Valentine, the Clave, the missing Mortal Cup, Sebastian in Idris, and the big Nephilim meeting. She knew that there was a big chance that they would go to Idris, a place she had wanted to go to ever since she was little. There was a part of her that was intrigued by the prospect, never mind the danger which she was quite sure was not that bad, but there was also a part of her that was afraid of entering the portal – something every shadowhunter must went through if they were going to go to Idris. Bred in a mundane world until she was ten, she had always felt weak, inexperienced and uneducated of this new world she had chosen to enter into. Maybe that was why she had always looked up to Ben.

Beside her, Ben folded his hands across his chest, listening intently to their parents' conversation, nodding once or twice every few minutes. At first, Aria had tried to understand what they were saying, but she gave up after five minutes, having decided that since everyone was busy minding their own businesses, this was the perfect time for her to steal some glances on Robert's face. His countenance was always sharp and intense, more so than usual today considering the topic of conversation. His raven black hair glinted by the shadow of the fireplace, the profile of his chiseled jaw was smoothly exposed by the dim lightning. There was always something that was mysterious yet warm about him; the perfect shadowhunter. Of course Aria had heard of Jace, the son of Valentine Morgenstern, who was rumored to be the best shadowhunter of his time, unbeatable. But Jace was a mere distant image for her, a motionless figure she had always admired, while Ben was real; a lively figure she had always wanted to become.

"No, I don't," Ben said, replying to either Marlena or Dimitri's question, which Aria had not really heard.

Aria dropped her gaze unconsciously when Robert spoke. Her heart had slammed her chest loudly one second earlier, suspecting that he had caught her watching him.

"Aria?" Marlena said.

It took her several seconds to realize that it was her name she was calling. She looked up to meet her gaze, "Yes?"

"Do you know where Jason is?"

"I think he's still in the training room," she said, realizing how nonsensical her answer was after she finished saying it. It was very rare for Jason to miss dinner. While it was pretty often for Ben to train or to go out all night, Jason would always show his face after 10 p.m. if his stomach had not been fed properly. Why would he spend his time on training, something that he never had any interest of?

Marlena seemed to be thinking the same thing. "I'm going to look for Jason," she stood and straightened the creases on her long purple skirt.

Aria watched Marlena walked lightly toward the door as the conversation started again behind her. She sighed. She did not even understand half of their previous conversations. Her options were either to watch Ben surreptitiously again and risked getting busted, or to leave the room and pretend to look for Jason. It was an easy choice. "I'll go with Marlena," she said and stood. The men nodded briefly, getting too caught up with their talks. She rolled her eyes and got out of the dining room.

Outside, the long corridor, that functioned pretty much as the Institute's main spine, greeted her with its familiar heat and dimness. She could hear Marlena's distant clicks of boots on the west wing, which was weird since the training room was supposed to be on the eastern side. Aria shrugged and went the other way, towards the training room. The witchlights on the sides of the corridor were dimmer than the witchlights in the other rooms, but she had gotten so used to them that their dimness did not really bother her. The Seattle Institute was not as big as the other Institutes she had ever been into, so it did not took her that much time to walk from one room to another. She was about to open the metal door to the training room when she heard Marlena's scream.

Alarmed, she twirled on her heels and ran pass the long corridor through the living room, ignoring the night wind that prickled the back of her neck as she entered the foyer, its front door opened. She could see Marlena's back as she dashed down the stairs. Marlena was still, her hair in a bun, her right hand gripping the door handle tightly. The tenseness was apparent on her frozen figure, as if she had just seen a ghost. Her stillness only lasted for a fraction of a second though, before she covered her mouth with her left hand and ran toward the Institute gates. It took Aria several seconds to reach the front door and saw what Marlena had just seen. She gasped and stumbled upon seeing the view in front of her.

Jason was slumping on the gates, his blonde hair messy and damp, his clothes wrinkled and stained heavily of blood. The cold wind that slapped her face could not ease the hotness that suddenly overwhelmed her chest. Marlena cradled Jason's head in her arm and shook his body hysterically. "Jason!" she cried and threw her gaze wildly around the small field that connected the Institute's front door with the gate. Her wide-eyed gaze stopped at Aria and she shouted once again, "Stele! I need your stele!"

_I was ten when I got my first demon bite_, Aria remembered Jason once said to her in a somber tone when she asked him why it was rare for him to go on quests along with her brother and father. _It was a regular demon, but the effect was disastrous for me. I had always known that I was more prone to demon poison than any other shadowhunter. I was born with that weakness. But I had never known it was that severe. Mom _iratzed_ me over and over again that time but it wouldn't heal until she called one of the Silent Brothers to come. He performed a ritual on me to improve my defense system. It worked, I guess. I never really know. Everyone won't let me risk trying to test it. And I don't really want to see them cry over me again like I was going to die._

Aria stared at Jason's figure, which was now sleeping restlessly on his mattress, as if he was having a nightmare. She had never in her wildest dream imagined how critical Jason's condition was. It had taken him a lot of _iratzes_ for the poison to exit his system. On one hand, it was a relief to know that Jason had gotten better than he was ten years ago since they did not really need to call the Silent Brothers again. But on the other hand, Aria knew enough that the poison he got from the _Shax_ demon was not much and it would not have required any _iratze_ at all had the circumstances was normal. Everybody had left Jason to rest. Marlena had said that Jason would get better in an hour, when his body tissues, that were burned by the poison, completely healed itself. But yet she found herself tiptoeing to Jason's room five minutes later.

Jason's room, like hers, was simple with no decorations except for a cabinet full of rows of books. The room smelled like frankincense, sweat, blood, and Jason, all swirled in the groaning sound of the slender figure on the bed. His eyelids trembled frantically, his hands gripped the edge of his bed, and his brown duvet fell on the side of his bed. The sight was so unfamiliar to her. She had often spent her nights in Jason's room when they were little every time she had a nightmare. She would tell him to sleep on the floor and he would grumble for a while before he woke up and lay on the floor, letting her sleep on his bed. It was always an easy thing for Jason to sleep, whenever and wherever. Seeing him like this tore some part of her apart. It was just too overwhelming. Aria bit her lip and was almost turned around to go back to her room when she heard him calling her name.

"Aria? Aria, is that you?" His groans barely made out the words, but Aria could hear them clear enough.

She moved slowly toward his bed, holding her breath as she realized how pale he was, all the colors drained from his face. His clothes were torn on the middle, showing his bare chest and his chiseled stomach. There were three big scratches on his torso that were disappearing under the iratze marks all over them. "Yes?"

He caught her wrist weakly and took a deep breath, struggling to make the word out. "The door," he said hoarsely.

"What?" Aria turned her head to look at the door. That was not something she had expected him to say, yet the trembling aquamarine in his eyes alerted her that he was trying to say something important.

"No," he said again as he pushed his weight down with his hands to sit.

Aria helped him doing so then grabbed a glass of water on the table beside him. "You want some water?"

Jason waved his hand briskly, straightening his position and coughed before continuing. "The Institute gates," his voice was steadier this time. "Mom hasn't closed it."

It took Aria a while to figure out what Jason was implying. The Institute gate could only be opened by shadowhunters, and even though the Institute itself was a sacred ground, the same could not be said with the little lawn that separated the front door with the gates, since it was not officially part of the Institute building itself. "Did someone follow…" before Aria could finish her question, she heard Ben's frantic cry echoed throughout the Institute.

"Demons! Demons!"


	4. Chapter 3

The shooting pain on his left arm had slowly disappeared and turned into soreness, as if he was just sleeping in a wrong position all night. It took Jason several seconds of inhales and exhales before he could gather his strength to stand. His head thumped heavily as he straightened up, willing his feet to support the weight of his body. He could feel the fingers on his right hand again as he grabbed the stele that lay on the bedside table. Aria had already run to where Ben's voice came from, the foyer maybe, and Jason was sure that his mother and father were there too at the moment. He quickly drew the mark of agility and strength on his left arm, but before he could draw another rune, he heard Aria's high pitched scream in the foyer, calling his mother's name.

Jason thrust back his stele to the back pocket of his jeans and grabbed one random white shirt from his cupboard since the last one was already doomed; no way would he wash all that disgusting blood from his stained shirt, it was not an expensive one either. In a normal day, he would hate himself for not taking a shower right now, what with all the sweat and the smell of frankincense all around his body and his dank hair. But he had no other options except to groan, mutter inwardly and dashed quickly toward the foyer. He had not have enough time to wear his shoes or boots, so he just slid his feet to one of the loafers that he had put sloppily near the shoe rack, without putting on any socks.

It was still harder for Jason to run. Since his blood had not healed completely, every dust he kicked as he ran through the corridor sent a throb to his head. He had tried to move slower, but the sound in the foyer echoed louder and louder. By the time he heard his father shouted something that mentioned his name in it, Jason found himself running, passing the living room, ignoring his body's protest to his sudden movement. By the time he arrived at the top of the stairs that circled down to the foyer, he could see demons, dozens of them, jutting in fiercely on the entrance door without being able to inch their way in. The wooden entrance door had disappeared into oblivion without traces; either it was now crumpled outside under the pack of random demons' feet or some idiotic demons had decided to eat the poor door greedily. Jason suspected it was the later.

Ben was on his way up the stairs when he held up his head and saw Jason. "We need to close the gate," Ben said with heavy breaths, his raven black hair damp with sweat. "Dad had already called Magnus Bane, we will go to Idris tonight. I just need to make sure you're good enough to run a few miles."

Jason nodded silently. He let Ben grabbed his wrist and drew some basic battle runes on its surface, including more _iratzes_. Looking down, he could see that Aria and his father had already finished drawing each other's runes and they were now helping his mother drew hers. From his father's and Ben's slightly torn clothes, Jason could tell that they had already tried to fight some of the demons from the inside of the Institute but to no avail; the demons were too many. Even though they were not able to enter the Institute, the sacred ground had always attracted them and the gates had always been the only barriers between the mundane world and the Nephilim's. As suspected, most of the demons were of the lower and weaker kinds of either Drevak or Kuri demons, who was disgusting enough to feed on blood but who was low in rank enough not to have any capabilities to use logic or instinct or whatsoever, since obviously they were stupid enough to attack a place they could not enter in search for Nephilim blood. Jason could not have begun to imagine how delicious his shadowhunter blood must have been to them, but he was pretty sure that if the situation was reversed, if he were them, he would have preferred to live his usual life and prey the usual mundane blood rather than risk his life for a pretty stupid mission to upgrade his dinner meal once. But still, he knew the situation could not last for long. If the gates were to be left open even a minute longer, the number of demons approaching would increase, especially in the middle of the night like this - it would invite unwanted suspicions from the mundanes. Even though the mundanes could not see the demons' forms, too much ruckus in one place always drew attention. The last thing every Institute wanted was for their affairs and secrets to be interrupted and discovered by accidental-mundane-police-inspections raiding their places.

Of course, they could also fight the demons in the lawn, closed the Institute gates and then came back in again, ignoring the rest of them until sunrise. But from the looks of it, the demons were too much to handle and his family would have to risk someone getting hurt in the process for the mission to succeed. Their only option was to close the gate and ran away from the Institute until sunrise, when the demons would surely burn and fold unto itself under the sun. Ben's _iratze_ had taken its effect on Jason by the time he arrived at the foot of the stairs. His steps felt lighter even though his head still felt a little bit heavy.

"Jason, are you okay, dear?" Marlena said in a worried tone, "you don't have to fight the demons, just make sure to follow us safely out the gates, okay?"

"I'm fine, mom." Jason sighed. Why would anyone doubt his fighting abilities? Oh, right, his epic genetic anomaly. Figured. "You should be more worried about the door," he continued. "It's gone, in case you haven't noticed. I'm surprised nobody said anything about it."

Jason could see Aria rolled her eyes from the corner of his vision. "Really, Jason?" she said. "Now's _really_ not the time. Just be safe. I don't want to worry about you twice in one night."

Jason smiled teasingly and was about to make a smart remark when he remembered the hissing, groaning, slithering, snarling and yapping sounds all around him, echoing through the foyer, and thought better of it. "Let's go then," he said finally.

"Good then," Dimitri said. He took his longest seraph blade and threw it to Ben. "You know the drill, Ben."

Ben nodded. He had always been the one on the front line. The tough and strong brother. Everybody prepared their positions and grabbed their seraph blades. "_Samandriel_," Jason whispered and the seraph blade blazed. Something was always flickered inside of him upon seeing demons and a blazing seraph blade at the same time. Jason scoffed absently. Two big battles in one night? Who would have thought? He knew he should have stayed down and played defensive, but he also knew he could not promise himself not to be careless; even his head had already played all different heroic scenarios he could possibly think of himself doing in front of Aria. Jason had never been one to be fond of battle against demons, but lately it seemed like a switch was turned on inside of him, exposing the nature of his Nephilim blood more and more each day. He took a deep breath and watched from the corner of his eyes how Aria held her breath as her gaze followed Ben's figure thrusting forward, entering the black vortex of deformed demons.

The tiny blue blaze in Ben's hand found a way to slash its first target, or targets to be precise, a blazing white fire cutting the cacophony of demons. Marlena followed behind Ben, staying close to him and guarding his back. Jason knew it was supposed to be his turn next, but he signal Aria to go first. Realizing that she did not have time to argue about it, Aria entered, her dark brown hair could barely be seen as it blended with the mass of demons. Knowing his father would guard his back, Jason followed Aria immediately, intending not to lose his sight on her small back. As soon as he entered the cacophony, a spider demon with its eight pincer-tipped arms attacked him. He knew immediately that its fangs that were protruded from its eye socket were poisonous so he targeted them first. He whirled to its side and charged his seraph blade to cut its fangs as it tried to jab him with its snout. It chittered as its thick yellow poison dripped from its broken fangs, hitting the ground with a hiss. As soon as he saw an opening on the spider demon's shocked stance, Jason thrust his seraph blade on its neck, making it fell and disappeared within a few seconds.

He turned his gaze quickly on his surrounding in search for Aria's back, but dozens of demons were already lurching toward him, he could see one green-bodied Drevak demons and the slinking black Kuri demons among them. He rolled his eyes and was about to take his first move when a silver light cut the darkness in front of him with a precise and deadly motion. It did not take long for Jason to realize that it was Ben who could possibly had that kind of agility.

"You okay?" Ben said as he thrust his blade upward on one of the demon's jaw.

"Better than ever. Don't ruin my fun, brother," Jason replied as he dashed to join Ben. Then a wrinkled face demon with one blood-red eye loomed up out of the darkness. It had a barbed scorpion tail and was about to attack Ben from behind when Jason shouted for Ben to duck. It was a quarter of a second near miss - its tail shot forward to whip an empty air above Ben who was just crouched. The demon hissed and threw its glance toward Jason, the cause of its failure, with a revenge-y stare. When Jason realized that it had decided to change its target, he smiled crookedly. Lucky for him, Ben had already taken control of fighting all the demons around them. So Jason decided to focus his attention on this particular Kuri-scorpion demon. He took his stance and watched as the demon lurched at him. Jason whirled around in time when it was close enough to hit him. Realizing the familiar scenario, Jason rolled to the side and ran toward the demon's front as its tail was swinging. This time, he targeted its scaled neck. The seraph blade on his hand gleamed as it sliced through its throat. With a snarl, the demon folded inward, its tail was spasming uncontrollably as it vanished.

Jason staggered to his feet, a subtle pain shot through his head, but he ignored it, running toward Ben. Jason slammed his back against Ben's when he arrived and together they rotate slowly, slashing on every demon that was coming at them. They moved slowly while rotating toward the Institute gates. Jason could not see Aria, though. Everything was a whirl of sound; hissed and snarls and chitters and groans. The air itself stank like decaying corpses in an old graveyard. He knew now was not the time to think about deodorant but he could already feel his hair lanky with blood and his eyes stung with sweat and how good it was to be able to take a nice long bath after all this was over.

"Almost there," Ben shouted in the midst of all the ruckus.

Jason could see his father and mother on the other side of the gate, they were still fighting the demons near the gate, readying themselves to close it when everybody had gone out. There was no sign of Aria, though, and Jason was almost assumed that Aria had already made it to the other side of the gate when he saw a petite figure a few feet from him, still inside the lawn, hitting the ground hard, her blade flying out of her hand. It struck the ground and skittered across to Jason's feet. "Aria!" he shouted hysterically as he ran toward her, going back to the inside of the lawn without thinking. A serrated talon ran like a zipper in front of him, blocking his way. It came from a faceless Ravener with an almost-human body. It almost slashed Jason's chest as he leaped backward, making its talon slitting the empty air. He almost wondered idly to himself why a Ravener would join the feast considering its kind did not feed on blood, but then again, maybe it was just stupid and loved a good blood bath. "Wrong time, wrong target," he said as he lunged forward just after the Ravener's talon made its second furious slash. With a not-so-bad graceful movement, Jason buried his seraph blade on the demon's head where its eyes might have been located. He continued his way toward Aria without looking back at the spasming demon behind him as he took his second seraph blade. "_Camael_," he said, and the blade blazes, its white glare lighting the vortex of swirling darkness.

Jason was almost there when he saw a bone-white Drevak demon lunged toward Aria who had barely managed to stand. Jason was about to warn her but she had apparently realized the danger near her. With one single slash, she cut the demon's poison sac under its chin and hurriedly thrust her other seraph blade on its chest. It was effective enough, but the poison that fell from the sac spread uncontrollably because of the demon's spasming. Before long, it spattered across Aria's jacket, burning part of her throat and arms. Her skin sizzled as she let out a shriek. She was almost fall to the ground again if not for Jason who arrived there on time to caught her. He put his arms around Aria's waist and slung her arm around his shoulder, "And here I was thinking I was the careless one," he whispered to her ear as he whirled around toward the gates. "Just hold on to me. You're going to be just fine." Despite her throaty breath, Jason could smell Aria's familiar lavender smell that was now mixed with sweat and blood and it gave him a mix of contentment and fear in his heart. Contentment because he could feel her warmth in his arm, fear because he just realized how fragile she was and how he might lost her in this oblivion of darkness and death.

A silvery path cut through the air. Ben was near them, shielding them and providing a path for them to walk on. Jason followed the path, slashing the blade on his left hand once in a while when demons lunged at them, careful not to let himself being poisoned again. The pain was throbbing even more in his head and it was getting harder to ignore it. But he had to. Beside him, he could feel Aria's blood flow slowing down, the hammering of her heart fading softly. Jason realized that the poison on her shoulder blades was too much and she needed an _iratze_. Fast. It felt like forever until they reached the Institute's gates and slipped past its small opening. Marlena was already in the process of closing it, Dimitri guarding her back.

The gate closed with a loud creak and Jason could feel Aria let out her previously-held breath, leaning almost completely on him. There were still some demons on the outside perimeter of the gates, but without any confinement, it would not be long for them to flee one by one, for the stupidest among them at least would be wise enough to know that exposure to the mundanes was fatal. Like shadowhunters, demons also could not risk being captured by a horde of mundanes – or else they would end up dead, either under the sun, or among a group or mentally ill mundanes.

"I thought you were the one in need of protection," Aria said to Jason, her voice shuddered but with a tinge of relief.

Jason loosened his grab on her as he watched Ben and Dimitri fought the last remaining demons in front of them. He was not in the mood for joking or small-talk right now. He was too exhausted with the throbbing on his head and her previous fear of losing her. "I think now's not the time to discuss that," he said. "But as I told you earlier, you're going to be fine." He turned his head toward her and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Since when do you get so serious?" Aria grinned at him weakly.

"Since when do you not pay attention to Ben?" Jason replied almost too quickly and coughed, "I mean, do you not realize that he is now still fighting? That we're in the _middle_ of a fight?"

Aria glanced down, blushing maybe, Jason did not really know. And he tried as hard as he could not to care. The strands of hair that had escaped Aria's now-messy ponytail were plastered on her cheeks and forehead with sweat. Her black clothes were streaked with blood and the pale skin across her shoulder blade was smeared with burn marks. Blood streamed from her neck down onto her jacket, soaking her hair. With Ben and Dimitri shielding them, Jason drew out his stele from one of the pockets of his jeans with his right hand and started to draw an _iratze_ on Aria's arms.

Aria jerked in surprise at first but closed her eyes as she waited for Jason to finish. "You're hurt too, you know," she said, almost in a whisper.

Jason stared down when he finished drawing. There was a log rip on the sleeve of his armored jacket, as if some blades had torn it open. It was just a scratch, though, for he did not feel any poison whatsoever coursing through his veins like before. "It's nothing," he murmured, throwing his glance toward his father and brother. He could not stand to look at Aria. She was so fragile it made his heart ache.

Dimitri delivered a killing blow to the last Drevak demon in a swift motion, making it vanished. There were no demons left on the outside of the Institute, though Jason could still hear the slithering, hissing and snarling sound from inside the gates. Marlena ran toward Dimitri to make sure he was okay. Of course he was. Compared to all of them, Dimitri and Ben looked as if they could still fight another thousand hordes of demons.

"Quick, this way." Dimitri said with a commanding tone. He wasted no time catching his breath and simply walked with an easy gait toward one particularly dark alley on the right side of the Institute. "The portal is near here. Around three blocks probably."

Jason slipped his stele back on his jeans pocket and tightened his hand around Aria's waist as he followed Dimitri. He could not deny that their closeness sent jolts of emotion to his chest, making his heartbeat thump faster, but now was not the right time to dwell on that.

The sky had turned light brown and the clouds had slowly appeared from beneath the black mist of night. Birds had started to chirp from somewhere beyond the horizon and some houses had pulled up their window blinds. Dawn was coming. As far as mundane eyes could see, the side of the street was empty with no sound. But had they have the gift of Sight, they would see five shadowhunters, walking fast but limply, on a dark alley; blood and scratches covering their bodies, as if they belonged to another place in another centuries.


	5. Chapter 4

His grip was strong and the pressure of his body against hers produced warmth that enveloped her chest. Aria never thought Jason could give her this sense of nervousness. She had never thought he could be anything to her other than a giddy older brother. The moon accentuated his hard jaw and the bone on his cheek. There were no traces of smile on his tense face. The fact that she had never known this side of him surprised her. She remembered the soft snore that came from a curled up figure on the sofa in the corner of the library, a book opened on his chest, his mouth slightly parted. It was the first time she met Jason; the boy who was annoyed because she often interrupted his readings, the boy whom she had followed everywhere around the house because she hadn't known what to do back then when everyone was gone, the boy who eventually annoyed her because of his wry jokes, the boy who was her only best friend. Now he was all grown up. She had tried to take off her mind from Jason, she had tried to watch Ben's back as he walked in front of them. But it was so hard not to feel the slamming of her heartbeat when Jason's arm was wrapped around her waist so tightly, as if he was afraid to lose her if he let it go.

The street lights had dimmed as the sky changed in color from dark grey to soft purple, preparing for the arrival of the morning sun. The sizzling pain on Aria's shoulder had healed itself, leaving with it a strong trace of warmth. She still could not walk straight, though; some demons had managed to hit the back of her knee and there had not been enough time to _iratze_ it before. Luckily Jason was still strong enough to bear her weight. Still, they were the slowest among the other Verlacs. Aria knew they were in no hurry and their invisibility marks were still good, but resting was not an option, no matter how much she wanted it. Magnus had been waiting for them, along with the portal.

To be honest, there was a tinge of fear in imagining what lied beyond the portal. Not Idris, to be exact, but the inside of the portal itself; the void, the gate to an invisible world that was located somewhere in Europe. She had never even been to Europe. Some said that it took a great amount of focus for mundane to be able to travel through the portal, but every well-trained shadowhunters had been able to go through it without any difficulties. The problem was that Aria had only trained to be a shadowhunter for only five years and she did not know if that was enough.

But her worries were quickly trumped by amazement upon seeing Magnus. He wore a purple robe, red beach pants and pantofel shoes that looked like they came from another era.

"You look… astonishing as usual, Magnus," apparently Dimitri could not hide his amusement.

"Thank you. I find your compliment most heartwarming. I believe I must have looked as young and as handsome as I was five years ago?" Magnus smiled proudly.

There were several seconds of silence as everyone gaped at him with their mouths slightly opened. Aria blinked several time before registering what Magnus had said and decided to break the silence. She coughed, "Yes, in fact I think you look more... dashing today."

"Back at you, young lady. You have grown to be quite a looker," Magnus grinned, his yellow cat-eyes glinted despite the absence of light in satisfaction. "Right then, the portal is this way." He waltzed swiftly deeper into the darker side of the alley, his hands slightly waving on his side. The Verlacs followed him like puppies following their master. Aria found her eyes meet with Ben's and quickly turned away as if she was guilty of something, cursing herself inwardly afterward.

The glow of witchlight suddenly appeared in front of her, warm and flickering like dancing lights among the dark shadows. She vaguely made Jason's lean figure through the shadows on the alley's wall and blushed, realizing he was holding her tightly in his arms while Ben was in front of them. The soundless runes made their footsteps devoured by the silent darkness and Aria could not do anything but focus on the witchlight in Magnus' hand. Its blue light grew bigger and brighter until Aria realized that it was not actually a witchlight as it became a two feet tall round mirror that looked like it was made of clear water. She almost tripped when she realized that everybody had stopped and Magnus was standing in front of the mirror. It was the portal – blue and clear like a translucent reflection of a deep ocean. She could see herself there; small and filthy, strands of hair crossed her face uncontrollably, holes spreading across her clothes.

Jason tightened his grasp to prevent her from falling but she was too amazed by the unfamiliar sight in front of her. She steadied herself and gulped involuntarily.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jason's low voice was almost a whisper in her ear.

"Yeah," she returned his gaze, seeing concern in the blue of Jason's eyes and sighed, "I mean no. I don't know if I can do this."

"Yes, you can. Just take a deep breath and concentrate." He smiled genuinely.

Aria vaguely heard Magnus' voice instructed them briefly about how he would wait on Idris and how the Clave had opened the access to the other side of the portal before he jumped in himself, his back against the portal, as if he was about to fell from a high place purposefully. Marlena and Dimitri followed him hand in hand. They went through the portal as if that was a usual thing and that they have done it a thousand times before. Ben was about to follow his parents when he paused and turned around hesitantly. "Are you going to be okay? It's your first time, right?" He gave Aria an encouraging smile.

"Yeah. Don't worry about me," she gave him a weak smile.

"I will catch you on the other side." Ben brushed her hair briefly before he leaped into the portal, leaving Aria and Jason alone. It was not uncommon for Ben to give Aria brotherly gestures, but lately they sent shivers through her skin every single time. But right now she was too concerned of whether or not she would make it to the other side rather than imagining the possibility of being in Ben's arm.

"Do you want to go first or should I?" Jason said to her from somewhere far away.

All Aria could hear was the sound of her pulse that was beating in her head as if a sledgehammer had just hit her temple.

"Aria?" He said again.

She slowly looked at him. Jason was the only one who knew her big concern about portaling. She did not know how he knew that but it seemed their closeness over the years had made him able to understand some parts of her that she was not sure she understood herself. Like now, for example, she had no idea how he could smell her fears, but it warmed her heart slightly nevertheless, to know that he would help her get through with this paranoia without her having to tell him first. She did not want to go, she wanted to delay the moment as long as she could until she felt that she was ready, which was most probably never. Yet she also did not want Jason to go first and leave her to be the last one to jump to the portal. She was not sure if she would be brave enough to jump if she was alone anyway. So after inhaling a deep, ragged breath, she said, "Can we go together like Marlena and Dimitri?"

His gaze softened on her as he smiled. He let go of his hand around her waist, leaving traces of warmth that sent shivers through her bone. Then he squeezed her cold fingers lightly and nodded at her. "Focus, Aria. You just have to focus on where this portal is taking you. I will be right beside you. Try not let go."

Aria nodded weakly, trying to find the energy she had lost upon seeing the portal.

"On three," Jason said. "One."

She took a deep breath and looked at her waving reflection on the portal.

"Two…"

She looked at Jason through the translucent portal. He was watching her. The glinting ocean on his eyes was intent on her as if he was reading a new book that he found fascinating. She inched closer toward the mirror, eager to touch his, or her own, reflection.

"Three!"

The surface was cold, like a weeping iceberg. Before long, she saw her hands started to enter the portal, slithering in rhythm with the moving water. She threw a quick glance at Jason and smiled before she pulled him away with her to enter the portal. Pinpricks of icy water washed over her as she threw her body into the hollowness of the portal. She could not feel her body and before long she realized that she no longer clutched Jason's hand. She was alone.

She could feel her heartbeat began pulsing wildly aside from the fact that she could not even control her hands. Everything around her was swirling in soft blue current yet she could not find the blue color she was looking for. She wanted to cry out Jason's name but the cold around her made her mind heavy and tired and her lip barely moved. She willed herself to keep her eyes open, but it was as hard as trying to break free from a frozen curse. Then a small black dot appeared in front of her, it grew bigger as she realized that it was absorbing her, giving her warmth that did not exist before. She felt her body shuddering because of the sudden drops of temperature. Focus, she thought to herself. She closed her eyes and inhale deeply. She felt her body again as it was pushed by a great force. Focus, she said to herself again, keeping her eyes closed and her mind steady. The sound of splashing water filled her ears as she felt a thump on her chest. She had hit a soft ground. It was warm and… moving? She opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the serene blue eyes she was familiar of. It was different from Jason's lively eyes. It was Ben's.

Aria's damp hair was pasted all around his face and water was dripping from her face to his. She groaned, trying to pull herself to stand. This was not a proper position – her on top of Ben in her most improper countenance. But she could not feel her feet. She saw Ben raising his eyebrow and moving his lip slowly as if he was saying something urgent, but she could not hear it. All she could hear was a stinging sound. Her vision blurred and her head was throbbing heavily. In the last seconds before she gave up on standing and opening her eyes all together, she felt a strong force of air pushing her lightly. She turned her gaze to her side, watching as Jason landed on his knee a few feet from her, or was he right next to her? He looked concerned, or confused. Wounded maybe? She tilted her head slightly and then turned to Ben again, wanting to say something that she herself had already forgotten what before the first word even came out. Then unconsciousness took over her, and a firm set of arms wrapped around her like a blanket.


End file.
